In Love With....RedStamp.com Personalized Stamps

With all the holiday cards and packages you will be addressing at this time of year, how marvelous would it be to finish them off with one of these gorgeous personalized stamps from RedStamp.com. Perfect for the household office, even better as a charming hostess gift!  Beauty making life simplier, how grand!

Find them here!

On the Christmas List.....Blabla dolls

Not sure where my daughter uncovered these Blabla dolls but they have found their way onto her list for Santa. Cute as a button I say!!

Bernice

Lemonade

Clementine

Find them here!

The Lovely Ones: Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock

(1899-1980)

In Love With...the Perfect Holiday Skirt

As I desperately try to get back to some sort of regular schedule, I thought I would ease my way back into daily posts with a peek at one of my faves for this holiday season and definitely a must have for any properly stylish wardrobe.

I have grown a new found appreciation for Talbots and their new look this season, especially when I come across pieces like this gorgeous taffeta full skirt. Perfect to pair with a cashmere twin set, starched white shirt (collars up!) or a Audrey Hepburn-ish short sleeve, knit turtleneck. Easy-peasy holiday dressing with a dash of Betty Draper style.

Available in a few colours to choose from and this gorgeous plaid, you will have to use your self control to walk away with just one. Poor Lily lacks that self control and is awaiting the delivery of three of these lovelies to take me through the holiday season!

The Lovely Ones: Gene Tierney

Gene Eliza Tierney

(November 20, 1920-November 6, 1991)

The Lovely Ones: Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard

(Jane Alice Peters)

1908-1942

Style Icon: Lilly Pulitzer

Lilly McKim Pulitzer Rousseau

(1931-2013)

Born Lillian Lee McKim on November 10, 1931, 'Lilly Lee' as she was known to her friends, was a socialite from Long Island when she eloped with Peter Pulitzer in 1950. Settling in Palm Beach, Florida to raise her family, she decided to start a juice stand with the produce from the Pulitzer citrus groves to keep herself busy. The awful price of squeezing all those juicy oranges was that it really did a number on Mrs. Pulitzer's clothes and lucky for us it did. Otherwise she wouldn't have gone on to whip up the famous colourful, sleeveless cotton shift that became known as the "Classic Shift Dress".

Receiving numerous compliments and inquiries about her vibrantly patterned dresses, she had some made up to sell along side her juice stand. When the clothing sales started to surpass the juice sales, Lilly decided it was time to change the inventory line-up and the rest as they say was history.

The Kennedys in Lilly Pulitzer.

With socialites and famous celebrities like First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (a former schoolmate from the Chapin School) seen sporting her dresses, everyone and anyone wanting to look like they had summered in Palm Beach could be found sporting a Lilly Pulitzer design. The bold graphics of monkeys, palm trees, strawberries and alligators adorning the shifts became an emblematic uniform for the well-to-do, paving the way for a new nickname for Lilly, the 'Queen of Prep'.

Touted as 'must haves' in 'The Official Preppy Handbook', the brightly coloured shift dresses, and eventually pants, skirts, tops and accessories, reached the height of their first wave of popularity in the 1980's, the decade of Muffy and Skip.

So it came as quite a shock when Lilly P. decided to retire and close up shop in 1984 so that she could spend more time with her family.

Luckily for the groves of fans, young and old, who continued to prize their iconic garments, she allowed her line to be brought back to life in 1993 and has continued to be as popular today as it was in the heyday of 'barefoot elegance'.

Rest in Peace Lilly...

The Lovely Ones: Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman

1915-1982



The Lovely Ones: Vivien Leigh

Vivien Leigh

(Vivien Mary Hartley)

November 5, 1913-July 7, 1967

A Reader Asks: How Long Should I Wait for Tardy Dinner Guests??

Dear Lily,
when you invite guests to your house and you state a specific time for dinner, how long after that time has passed do your proceed to have dinner if one family has not shown up while all the other guests are there? For instance, most recently I invited about 30 people over for a birthday party and set lunch for 3pm.  We delayed starting the lunch till 4:15 as one couple (and granted very close to my husband) was late. However at this point I had 30 other guests there from 2:30 waiting to eat. Did I mention this couple habitually shows up 2 hours late for EVERY function, most times with no apology or excuse for their tardiness? Secondly when that couple did arrive they apologized stating they thought party was for 4…they showed up at 5:10….still late even if they confused the times (Did I also mention that I sent a reminder two days prior confirming time AND my email was acknowledge by the culprits). What do you do and say? As always, I said 'no problem' and apologized for starting without them but is that correct? If they continue, do you address it or do just continue to start your dinner plans as scheduled without them?

Thanks,
A from Toronto



Dear A,
            as with any etiquette question that is sent my way, I like to start off by establishing what is referred to as the 'proper' etiquette concerning the specific query and then of course, what kind of post would it be if Lily didn't add in her two cents on the matter at hand?

15 minutes is the typical length of time that a hostess may wait for a late guest for a sit down dinner, 20 minutes if you are dining buffet style. To wait more than twenty minutes at the most, would be showing lack of consideration to many who came on time for the sake of one. When the late guest finally arrives, it is she/he who must go up to the hostess and apologize for being late. The hostess should remain seated and the guest merely greets the hostess quickly in order that all the guests at the table need not stand and disrupt dinner. The hostess must never reprimand or scold the late guest publicly but should say something polite and conciliatory such as "I was sure you would not want us to wait for dinner."

Bearing that etiquette guideline in mind, it sounds like there is a little more to the equation than just a couple showing up late to a party. If this couple who happens to be close to your husband, habitually comes extremely late to every function you hold, how much friction would it cause between you and your husband if you just stopped inviting them? No one can expect to receive ongoing invitations from a hostess whose hospitality they choose to disrespect. Even the hostess with the best social graces can not continually excuse someone else's lack of good manners, especially when it seems that this etiquette shortcoming could potentially be on purpose. You did nothing wrong by starting without them and definitely should not have to apologize for doing so.

Yours truly,